title: Autobiographical memory as a predictor of depression vulnerability in girls.
abstract: Overgeneral autobiographical memory (AM), the tendency to recall categories of events when asked to provide specific instances from one's life, is purported to be a marker of depression vulnerability that develops in childhood. Although early adolescence is a period of risk for depression onset especially among girls, prospective examination of this putative risk factor is lacking. The current study examined the prospective associations between AM recall and depressive symptomatology in an enriched community sample of predominantly African American girls. Girls (n = 195) were interviewed about depressive symptoms at ages 11 and 12 years, and AM recall was assessed at age 11. The findings showed that overgeneral retrieval to positive, but not negative, cue words predicted subsequent depressive symptoms after controlling for age 11 symptoms, race, poverty, and Verbal IQ. A moderating effect of race was also shown, whereby overgeneral AM bias predicted depressive symptoms more strongly among European American girls.
authors.affiliation: Western Psychiatric Institute & Clinic, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA. hipwellae@upmc.edu
authors.forename: Alison E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Hipwell
authors.forename: Brenna
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sapotichne
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Klostermann
authors.forename: Deena
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Battista
authors.forename: Kate
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Keenan
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales